To Thine Own Self Be True

Parvati knows all about the library. Despite having failed a few essays for lack of references, and having no idea where to begin researching the ethics of truth potions, Parvati knows more about the library than Hermione. That's why Parvati spends her time on silly, giggly, girly things while Hermione reads.

"I'm putting on weight," complains Lavender as she stands naked in front of the full-length mirror they've put in their dorm. (Over Hermione's objections.)

Parvati shakes her head. "Do you want to look like a skeleton, Lav? Women are pretty when they look like women. I think you're lovely."

No lust there. Parvati and Lavender know what they want and that doesn't enter into the equation.

"Where is Hermione?" asks Lavender, as if that question followed off Parvati's compliment. In a way, it does. They both know Hermione's opinion of feminine beauty (or lack thereof).

"Where do you think?"

"Ah." Lavender goes in search of her hairbrush. "She spends too much time in the library. It can't be good for her."

"It isn't," agrees Parvati.

"She hides herself in books because she doesn't like herself," pronounces Lavender, finding the hairbrush.

Parvati shakes her head. "It's the books that are the problem in the first place, Lav. . . Could I borrow your brush after you're done?"

Parvati knows what one finds in books. In Hermione's beloved Hogwarts, a History, which Parvati did read during that business with the Heir of Slytherin, there are two important wizards, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, who found a school and whose Houses rule the destiny of wizarding Britain. And then there is a dumpy witch with a taste for gardening and an air-headed beauty with a penchant for impractical trivia.

This explains why the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs submit to being second-class Gryffindors. It's an avenue to masculinity.

"This is ridiculous," snaps Lavender, pulling on lovely undergarments that have not yet been given the male attention they demand. (Not yet, but soon. Lavender is modest in her beauty, knowing that she'll attract better men that way.) "We should tell Ron and Harry."

Ron and Harry are oblivious that something is wrong with Hermione. Parvati doesn't hold it against them. They are boys, after all.

"Hermione's always in the library," says Ron. "That's normal for her."

But it shouldn't be normal for a woman. The library is for men.

It's not true that men have stopped women from reading. Parvati knows that among the medieval nobility, more women could read than men. And witches have always had as much access to books as wizards. Women were always able to read those rants against woman's lack of steadfastness, those tales of woman's infidelity, those scornful meditations on fleeting womanly beauty. Women wrote some of them.

Women, in Parvati's opinion, should stay away from the library.

Hermione isn't in the library. Harry shrugs his shoulders, but Ron looks worried. Ron is in love, wasting his time on a woman who thinks woman unlovable. Parvati wants to tell him this, and she almost does as they search the grounds together for the wayward Hermione.

"Ron, I need to tell you something about Hermione," she begins.

His ears pinken. Ron is a living male stereotype and Parvati approves. "What?" he asks most eloquently.

"Hermione has been through a lot. Read a lot. And she's not happy, Ron."

"No one is," he says quietly. "Not since last year."

This isn't true. Parvati has been happy. And she'd thought that Ron was happy too. Nothing has happened to hurt him. He's Quidditch captain. His family has reunited with his older brother. Arthur Weasley is tipped for next Minister for Magic. He hasn't even noticed Hermione's pain.

As if he hears her thoughts, he answers, "Not with Harry like this."

Men and women should be loyal. Loyal to their friends. Loyal to their loves. Loyal to their sex. Ron is all three. Hermione is none of them.

If Hermione chooses to commit treachery against herself, Parvati owes Hermione no loyalty. So she kisses Ron and is glad that he protests that he doesn't feel that way towards her, that his heart belongs to someone else. This is exactly what he should say. Later, after the proper forms have been observed, he will love her honourably. She can wait.

Parvati sees Terry Boot scowling at them as he passes.